As the year comes to a close, it’s time to take a look back at the best that 2025 had to offer.
2025 was a particularly great year for movies. From Sinners to Weapons, Wake Up Dead Man and One Battle After Another, there were plenty of quality flicks to see both on the big screen and on streaming.
However, we want to take a moment to highlight the year in thrillers. Whether it’s a cozy whodunit, a hair-brained murder plot or a magician-centric heist, Watch With Us loves a good crime story.
Here are our five thriller picks from 2025.
Sure, 2025 had plenty of incredible movies, but what about a best-of list filled with the films that actually kept Us talking — not just the ones making the most awards season noise? Don’t get Us wrong: Frankenstein, Hamnet, One Battle After Another and the rest of the other Oscar-buzz crowd absolutely deserve their moment, but sometimes […]
5. ‘Wake Up Dead Man’ (2025)
When a young pastor with a shady past is sent to join a church run by a charismatic but divisive monsignor, the two men of faith quickly come to ideological blows. But when Monsignor Wicks (Josh Brolin) turns up dead, murdered in a seemingly impossible way, all eyes are on newcomer Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor). To clear his name, Jud teams up with the esteemed detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), as the two look to Wicks’ eclectic, tight-knit parish for the real killer.
Ruminating on ideas related to religion, hypocrisy and redemption, Wake Up Dead Man is the most meditative of the three Knives Out films in director Rian Johnson’s trilogy, but is no less a compelling crime caper. Led by a scene-stealing turn from O’Connor, Wake Up Dead Man has thrilling tension, a twisty plot, eccentric characters played by an all-star cast, and Craig hamming it up as usual as Blanc.
4. ‘Now You See Me, Now You Don’t’ (2025)
It’s been ten years since The Four Horsemen held their last performance, when suddenly they show up in a warehouse in Brooklyn. But, well, they didn’t: they were artificially reunited through holograms by a group of young, nascent magicians in an elaborate magic act. This deception is noticed by the Horsemen’s own Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), who taps them to assist him in a heist involving a corrupt South African mogul. But to take down Veronika Vanderberg (Rosamund Pike), Atlas is going to need the whole Horseman gang in addition to the new generation.
Now You See Me, Now You Don’t has everything you could possibly want from a movie: non-stop, wisecracking banter, charismatic stars Eisenberg, Dave Franco, Woody Harrelson, Lizzy Caplan and the return of Isla Fisher, an absurd villain played by an actor doing a crazy accent and, of course, it’s got magicians doing crimes via magic tricks. It’s been nearly ten years since the last film, and the Horsemen are better than ever. If you love having fun, you’ll love watching Now You See Me, Now You Don’t.
3. ‘Black Bag’ (2025)
Married couple Kathryn (Cate Blanchett) and George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) are a devoted husband and wife who also happen to be really good intelligence agents. But when George is assigned to investigate a list of suspected traitors, he is shocked to discover his wife’s name on the list. George is thus put to the ultimate test: be loyal to his country, or his wife? However, the other four suspects on the list may hold the key to Kathryn’s innocence.
Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag is a brisk and snappy spy thriller with no fat on its bones, anchored by genuinely infectious chemistry between Fassbender and Blanchett. Smart, sexy and wickedly entertaining, the film relies more on subtle character dynamics than blowout action and will keep you guessing until the very end. Black Bag is a supremely clever and intelligently crafted piece of cinema that feels like a type of movie that just doesn’t get made anymore.
2. ‘No Other Choice’ (2025)
When a wealthy father (Lee Byung-hun) loses his job in a round of layoffs, the pressure to support his family after months of unemployment begins to mount on him. Once he realizes that he, alongside many other qualified men, is vying for the same positions, he comes up with a macabre plan: he’s not going to beat the competition, he’s going to kill them. A clear-cut plan on the surface, Yoo Man-su’s plot increasingly becomes a comedy of errors.
From South Korean director Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Decision to Leave) comes this dark but riotous black comedy thriller that will resonate with anyone who has recently struggled with the ruthless job market. No Other Choice has received rave reviews from critics, praising it for its mordant humor, expressive editing style and nimble direction. Indeed, No Other Choice is a breathtaking work of narrative and filmmaking craft that is unlike anything you will see this year.
1. ‘One Battle After Another’ (2025)
Based loosely on Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland, One Battle After Another stars Leonardo DiCaprio as retired revolutionary Bob Ferguson, now living off the grid as a paranoid stoner in California. Bob was once a member of the far-left group the French 75, but is now dad to spirited teenage daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti). But when an enemy from Bob’s former life resurfaces, Willa goes missing, and both find themselves in a battle against their pasts as Bob races to find his daughter.
A serious contender for Best Picture at the Academy Awards next year, One Battle After Another has already topped many year-end lists, including The New Yorker, Rolling Stone and IndieWire. Indeed, Paul Thomas Anderson’s towering, crime thriller epic is both an awe-inspiring action film and a hopeful treatise on the power of today’s youth. One Battle After Another ultimately succeeds as both a masterclass of fun, big-budget filmmaking and a poignant story of a father and daughter.